EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The woman charged with the murder in the death of an El Paso Uber driver last year will have a final plea hearing on Oct. 10, before a jury trial that is expected to start in November, according to court records.
Initially, Phoebe Copas’s final hearing was scheduled in July with her trial set on Aug. 30. However, that has since been moved to later in the year.
As we have previously reported, Phoebe Copas, 49, is charged with killing Daniel Piedra Garcia, as he was driving her to Speaking Rock Entertainment Center on June 2023. Copas claims she believed Garcia was kidnapping her to Juarez and pulled out her gun in self-defense.
Copas, from Kentucky, was visiting El Paso on Friday, June 16, 2023, and allegedly shot Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52, who was her Uber driver.
Copas claims she believed Piedra-Garcia was kidnapping her to Mexico as he drove the assigned Uber route on U.S. 54 near Loop 375 while driving her to Speaking Rock Entertainment Center.
Initially, Copas’s bond was set at $1.5 million by a jail magistrate. During a hearing in August 2023, Judge Maria Salas-Mendoza, of the 120th District Court, lowered Copa’s bond to a $500,000 split bond.
Copas has since posted bond and was released from the El Paso County Detention Center. The jury trial is currently set for Nov. 12.
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